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Will Your Success Be Incremental or Exceptional?
Eight forces that have altered the future of accounting firms.
By Anthony Zecca
Leading from the Edge
“All organizations are perfectly designed to get the results they are now getting. If we want different results, we must change the way we do things.” – Tom Northup, author of “Five Hidden Mistakes CEOs Make”
What a great statement not just about accounting firms, but all organizations – “perfectly designed to get the result they are now getting.” There is another old saying that goes something like this: “If you want different results you have to do things differently.” Center leaders hold onto the status quo whereas Edge leaders constantly push the envelope of what is possible – pushing to the future edge.
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Leadership is a topic that has been researched, talked about, written about, training sessions built around, and endless models developed – yet it is also one of the most challenging issues in most firms today. Over my career, I have worked and consulted with leaders of all shapes and styles and firms that experienced varying degrees of success. Based on working with hundreds of companies, my conclusions – and two of the primary reasons that drove me to write my book – are that in many cases, firms are performing below their capabilities and every firm has the potential to reach higher levels of performance if and when leadership moves from the center to the EDGE. Edge leaders want to be at the top of the pack when it comes to all metrics that matter whereas center leaders are content to remain average.
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Calvin Harris: The Future of Accounting Belongs to Those Willing to Rethink Everything | Gear Up for Growth
Intentionally design teams around technology, outsourcing, and evolving organizational structures.
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Gear Up for Growth
with Jean Caragher
for CPA Trendlines
“We’re at a time where we have multiple generational changes happening all at the same time,” says Calvin Harris Jr., CEO of the New York State Society of CPAs, during a recent episode of Gear Up for Growth, hosted by Jean Caragher, president, Capstone Marketing, and powered by CPA Trendlines.
According to Harris, technology, alternative practice structures, outsourcing and changing workforce expectations are converging to reshape the future of public accounting. Firm leaders must look beyond today’s headlines and begin rethinking how their firms operate, develop talent and deliver value to clients.
MORE Jean Caragher here | Get her best-selling handbook, The 90-Day Marketing Plan for CPA Firms, here | MORE Gear Up for Growth here
Although artificial intelligence dominates much of today’s discussion, Harris believes technology is just one piece of a much larger transformation. “You can’t be effective in this work anymore without also being effective in technology,” he says. “You will get lapped in terms of how efficient people can be.”
Rather than viewing AI as a standalone initiative, Harris encourages firms to think strategically about how technology supports new business models, enhances advisory services and improves the client experience.
How to Get Organization Minutes in Order
A 34-point checklist.
By Ed Mendlowitz
77 Ways to Wow! The Checklist Handbook for Advisory Services.
Corporate, LLC, partnership and not-for-profit organizations are usually required to have minutes memorializing certain actions taken by the board of directors or governing body. Yet, many do not either because it has never been done, is a bother, is considered not necessary or overlooked through inaction or unawareness.
MORE by Ed Mendlowitz
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However, it is something that should be done as a best practice, as recognition that there are non-active stakeholders who need transparency, or as tangible evidence that the actions recorded took place timely. In some instances, the IRS looks for minutes as a symbol that the affairs were handled on a businesslike basis or were not one-sided “secret” actions by those in control.
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Tony Wilson: Career Options CPAs May Be Overlooking | Accounting Conversations
Extraordinary opportunities lie ahead for those who combine accounting knowledge with curiosity, judgment, and business insight.
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Accounting Conversations
With Chayton Farlee
Center for Accounting Transformation
Accounting students often feel pressure to choose the perfect career path before they have taken their first professional step. Tony Wilson, CPA, CMA, offers a more forgiving — and practical — approach: Choose a direction, start moving, and learn along the way.
“Sometimes, just choose the thing,” Wilson says. “Just go after it.”
In this episode of the Accounting Conversations Podcast, host Chayton Farlee, an assurance associate at CliftonLarsonAllen, talks with Wilson, founder of Accquip, about building a career that stretches from public accounting and corporate finance to entrepreneurship and fractional CFO services.
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Along the way, Wilson shares candid advice for students and early-career accountants who want to gain meaningful experience, prepare for firm ownership, and understand where they can create value in a profession transformed by technology.
The Post-Audit Debrief Most Teams Get Wrong
Why most debriefs fail to change the next audit—and how to turn them into real design inputs
By William Englehaupt
As one audit cycle closes and the next begins, most teams go through some form of debrief. In theory, this is where learning happens, where teams step back, reflect on what worked, what didn’t, and carry those insights forward.
In practice, it rarely works that way.
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Debriefs are often rushed or treated as closure rather than input. The questions are familiar—what went well, what didn’t—but the discussion stays at the surface. Late nights, difficult clients, tight deadlines. The symptoms are easy to identify. The underlying causes are not. READ MORE →